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Interview: Dave Cummings

Dave Cummings is the oldest American porn star. At 73, he’s only a few years older than my dad. That’s actually how I found out about him. My dad was reading the newspaper one day and saw an article about Cummings. He called me later that night and said, “Hey, I read about this guy. Maybe you should interview him for that magazine of yours.” I have a rebellious streak and rarely do what my parents tell me to, but this time I decided to listen to my pops.

You can read my interview with Dave Cummings, which appeared in the July 2011 issue of Penthouse Forum, below.

FORUM: At 71, you’re America’s oldest working porn star—and you didn’t start your career until you were in your 50s. You were so close to retirement, why did you decide to start working in porn?

CUMMINGS: Just because it seemed like fun—and believe me, it still is fun—and because it seemed impossible to get into, to the point that I took it as a challenge. I was a lot older than the other performers, but I did have the advantage of being a swinger. As it turned out, Nina Hartley was a swinging partner and friend of mine. She suggested one night that maybe directors needed an older guy to play the older roles.

At first I said to myself, “Ah, she’s just being nice while we’re having sex here,” the same way that girls who are headliners at the clubs are nice to the guy who wants to be a porn star. Meanwhile, I started taking some steps to try to make it happen, and I got lucky. Being old and wrinkly didn’t hurt a bit!

FORUM: What was your first role? What was it like being on set the first time?

CUMMINGS: The first time I was in a program about swinging, and I was there to show how difficult it is for a single guy to be a swinger. Long story short, the couple they had there, the guy couldn’t do the money shot, so I was drafted. The next day I was in two amateur sex scenes for that couple, and the next month I filmed The Devil in Miss Jones 5 with Juli Ashton.

FORUM: Even then you were a lot older than your costars. How did people react to having you on set?

CUMMINGS: Actually, people were pretty welcoming. I saw no discrimination because of my age, no people whispering, “Who’s that old guy? I hope he doesn’t have a heart attack.” Nothing like that. I spent the whole day on set, because our scene kept getting pushed back and pushed back. So I was there for a good 12, 13 hours, and I took it all in like a sightseer at the most beautiful place in the world. I had to keep checking my heart to be certain it wasn’t over-beating. I thought I’d died and gone to heaven!

FORUM: You were there all day when you filmed your first movie? What was going on all that time? What’s a typical day on a porn set?

CUMMINGS: There’s real time, there’s military time—which I know a little bit about—and then there’s porn time. Porn time is always the slowest and the latest and all of that. If something’s going to go wrong, it will. Murphy’s Law is alive and well on porn sets, be it circuit breakers tripping all the time or the police coming in to check the shooting permit.

When I get on set, the first thing I do is walk around and look at everything. I want to find what the set looks like for the scene I’m going to be doing so I can start to acclimate and anticipate and all that kind of stuff. But after that, all you do on set is eat. It really helps me maintain being a fat guy, so everybody can identify with me. My fans are the ones who say, “Look at that ugly, short, fat, bald guy! And he’s overweight! If he can make out with these chicks, I bet I could if I ever had the opportunity!” So we do a lot of snacking, and a lot of paperwork.

Between all that, I try and meet the girl I’m working with. I want to make certain that there are no “No’s” that I need to know about, and that she knew for sure before I was booked how old I am. I just try and make the rapport thing happen a little bit. It’s a relaxed deal being on set.

FORUM: You’ve been in hundreds of movies. What qualities does a guy need to be a porn star?

CUMMINGS: It’s not about penis size or looks or muscles, it’s about functionality. By functionality I mean, once you’re told, “We’re ready to go,” you should get it up fast. You shouldn’t climax before you’re supposed to. You have to make certain the director gets all the footage he needs so that the editor has enough film to make the scene work, and you need to be able to do a money shot within a reasonable amount of time of being told to.

FORUM: What’s a reasonable amount of time?

CUMMINGS: Two or three minutes. But some of the people that are taking the enhancement medications are having some difficulty doing the money shot without it being time-consuming and having the girls yawning and the crew looking at their watches and things like that.

FORUM: Has the work gotten harder as you’ve gotten older?

CUMMINGS: Well first of all, there’s nothing wrong with the word “harder.” Not in this business!

FORUM: (laughs) Has it gotten more difficult, then?

CUMMINGS: I’d say it’s gotten much easier. All guys have a bad day once in a while. I’ve had my fair share. But fortunately, I always get through the scene. I know myself and I know what needs to be done. I’m very visual, and all I have to do is look at the girl. Even in the makeup room, I look at her and think, “Wow, is she nice! Look at that body! Soon I’m going to be having sex with that beautiful young lady!” Normally I’m cast with the younger girls because the directors or the writers want to show the contrast. I might wind up being the president or the judge or university instructor or whatever it might be, because they’re not all young, good-looking guys.

FORUM: How do you prepare yourself for a scene? Is there anything special you do that maybe the younger guys don’t?

CUMMINGS: I may take a brisk walk, maybe five miles; I try and keep my stamina up by not overdoing it. And I won’t be drinking the night before. Like I tell the guys in my running club, you drink so that you can get your nerve up to go over and talk to some girl, but what happens if you get lucky, you end up in bed with her, and you drank so much that your penis isn’t responding the way that you want it to? So I stay away from alcohol for 24 hours before a shoot. I try and get a good night’s sleep, and I’ll try like crazy not to masturbate that night. Sometimes it’s hard to do that—or not do that!

FORUM: I imagine it’s hard either way! (laughs)

CUMMINGS: You know, it’s hell, even at age 71, when you’ve gotta get up to pee. You have to hold that thing down and hope it softens up a little bit so you can pee, go back to bed and get back to sleep.

FORUM: That’s a hell of a problem to have, though.

CUMMINGS: I do a few more things in terms of personal hygiene that maybe the younger guys don’t. We don’t talk about it that much, but you hear the girls talking amongst themselves about it. You can pick up a lot of information.

The night before a scene I’ll do the trimming of the pubes. Not only does my crotch area have to be perfectly clean and fresh and all that, I also make certain that when I shave my face that I don’t shave just in the one direction I would if I was just going out someplace. I also shave against the grain so that when I’m doing cunnilingus I’m not gonna have any stubble on my upper lip or my lower lip or my chin that’s going to scrape the young lady. The look on the girl’s face when she feels that, if the camera’s on her, is not going to be fun for viewers who want to pretend they’re the lucky guy doing that cunnilingus. We don’t want to have that guy turned off. He’s supposed to be getting turned on looking at that girl. Viewers don’t care about the guys. We’re just props. That’s all we are. But I don’t mind being a prop! Not only do I get paid to be with a young girl, but I get to have sex with her? Holy shit!

FORUM: Is there anything you can do that the younger guys can’t? Any perks to being an older guy?

CUMMINGS: Well, I do get complimented about one thing a lot. Namely that I’m so old that I don’t hit the young lady in the eye when I do my come shot. I just dribble. And I can aim that thing exactly where the girl wants me to.

CUMMINGS: Nowadays there’s nobody in this country who can approach my age in porn, though there’s a guy in Japan named Shigeo Tokuda who’s older than me.

FORUM: I’ve read about him.

CUMMINGS: Did you read that in the beginning his wife didn’t know he was a porn star? I think what he’s doing is great. He’s helping the public realize that sex doesn’t have to stop at a certain age. But I do worry about him becoming the Japanese version of John Bobbitt.

FORUM: That’s a good point. A lot of younger people seem squeamish about the idea of older people having sex. Most porn talent, male or female, are in their teens and 20s. What’s made elderly porn stars such hot commodities these days?

CUMMINGS: I think that people living longer contributes to it. I think medical advances contribute to it. Vitamins, healthy foods, Viagra, Cialis, all the erectile dysfunction medications. And I think more and more older people have tried having sex.

I know a lot of women who were a little frustrated because they still had needs for sex, but as they and their husbands or boyfriends were getting older, the guy couldn’t quite make it work. Once erectile dysfunction medications finally hit the market, I think that older people started having more and more sex.

FORUM: Has sex gotten better as you’ve gotten older?

CUMMINGS: I think it has, because I’ve learned that I do have certain capabilities, stamina-wise. I can sense when the woman I’m with needs this or needs that. I encourage the women I’m with to tell me what they like and tell me what they don’t like and tell me if I’m doing something okay or whether it’s time to move on to a different thing.

FORUM: What do you like when it comes to sex? Have your own sexual preferences changed at all over the years?

CUMMINGS: Not really. I love to do the 69 with a young lady. I love to be on the bottom with her riding me, and I love it even more when I can get her to come on down and we kiss, or I’m touching her breast the same time my hand is on her ass. So sexual positions are important for me, but it’s more important for me to know what position my partner at the time prefers. And I can do ‘em all!

FORUM: A lot of your costars are considerably younger than you. So who’s better in bed: the younger girls or the older women?

CUMMINGS: Wow, you’re really putting me on the spot! But I’ll just be truthful. I prefer the young girls. They’re less inhibited and they’re willing to speak up and say what they like. I really like the idea of them expressing themselves.

FORUM: Is there a special lady in your life at the moment?

CUMMINGS: Not presently. I was married for 23 years and we had gone steady together for a number of years before that. But right now you know who I’m in love with more than anybody in the whole world? Me!

I enjoy going places by myself, then meeting up with friends afterwards. Before I came here to talk to you, I was down at the coffeehouse on the boardwalk with four or five guys and a couple of girls—well, not girls, really. They were women. But I like being with people. Tonight I’ll be going to a bar where everybody knows me and I know them, and we’ll just have a good time. I’m not alone.

FORUM: Did you ever imagine when you were younger that you’d be doing what you do now, much less doing it to earn your living?

CUMMINGS: Never in a million years would I have imagined that I’d have this job. I’m the luckiest guy in the world.

I wish there were some way that I could snap my fingers and have every other guy be me, just for a little while. It’s the best life. I thank god all the time. She and I talk all the time, and I’m always thanking her for letting me be a porn star.

FORUM: It sure sounds like you’ve got it made.

CUMMINGS: I think I do, but I don’t think I’m out to have it made. I think I’m just out to have fun.